Decoding the nation's best-performing franchise, then making it repeatable.

Context

Dunkin' had a puzzle: one regional franchise in Asheville, NC, had the lowest staff turnover in the entire national system. Why?

The problem

Frontline retention is the single biggest operational lever in fast food: it directly impacts customer experience, training costs, and revenue. But nobody had figured out what this franchise was doing differently.

What we did

We embedded with the Asheville franchise team (leadership and frontline) to decode their people management approach. Our final report delivered replicable KPIs and management techniques Dunkin' can deploy nationally.

What we found: 76% of managers scored as high-EQ (sensitive and emotionally expressive) based on 16 in-person interviews, 6 remote interviews, and 21 personality assessments across the Asheville team.